Carette of Sark eBook

We dropped our sail to avoid notice and rowed slowly
past, but time and again found ourselves floating
idly, as we gazed at that great spectacle and wondered
what the upshot would be.

Then we were evidently sighted by some sharp look-out
on one of the round towers, for presently a white
sail came heading for us, and we hastily ran up our
own and turned and sped out to sea, believing that
they would not dare to follow us far. They chased
us till the coast sank out of our sight, and could
have caught us if they had kept on, but they doubtless
feared a trap and so were satisfied to have got rid
of us. When they gave it up we turned and ran
south for Dieppe, and sighted the coast a little to
the north of that small fishing port just before sunset.

Here Le Marchant was among friends, having visited
the place many times in the way of business, and we
were welcomed and made much of. We were anxious
to get on, but the wind blew up so strongly from the
south-west that we could have made no headway without
ratching all the time to windward, and the sea was
over high for our small boat. So we lay there
three days, much against our will, though doubtless
to the benefit of our bodies. And I have wondered
at times, in thinking back over all these things, whether
matters might not have worked out otherwise if the
wind had been in a different quarter. Work out
to their fully appointed end I knew they had to do,
of course. But that three days’ delay at
Dieppe brought us straight into the direst peril conceivable,
and an hour either way—­ay, or ten minutes
for that matter—­might have avoided it.
But, as my grandfather used to say, and as I know
he fervently believed, a man’s times and courses
are ordered by a wisdom higher than his own, and the
proper thing for him to do is to take things as they
come, and make the best of them.

After three days the wind shifted to the north-west,
and we said good-bye to our hosts and loosed for Cherbourg,
well-provisioned and in the best of spirits, for Cherbourg
was but round the corner from home.

We made a comfortable, though not very quick, passage,
the wind falling slack and fitful at times, so that
it was the evening of the next day before we slipped
in under the eastern end of the great digue they were
building for the protection of the shipping in the
harbour. It was at that time but a few feet above
water level, and its immense length gave it a very
curious appearance, like a huge water-snake lying flat
on the surface of the sea.

We pulled in under an island which held a fort, and
keeping along that side of the roadstead, ran quietly
ashore, drew our boat up, and went up into the town.

CHAPTER XXVIII

HOW WE WALKED INTO THE TIGER’S MOUTH

Cherbourg was at that time a town of mean-looking
houses and narrow streets, ill-paved, ill-lighted,
a rookery for blackbirds of every breed. It was
a great centre for smuggling and privateering, the
fleet brought many hangers-on, and the building of
the great digue drew thither rough toilers who could
find, or were fitted for, no other employment.